Vincent Takeuchi
I am a retired Urban Planner with projects here and abroad. Other countries iAs a Vietnam vet (submarine service), I became active in the anti-war movement, and continue to become aware of social iss
Location Costa Mesa, California
Activity
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
I look forward to my first lesson in Chinese. I hope to be conversational.
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Hi Marina, I can relate to your experience, as I also taught conversational English to Japanese housewives here in US...I hope to do this in China.
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Hello Milind, good to meet someone in Communications...! I m sure you will have much to contribute in how to reach people online. Looking forward to this course with individual from so many backgrounds...!
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Hi Shameena, nice to hear you also had reservations about online teaching. I’m also looking forward to learning online skills, even though I am not a teacher by profession.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
Hello Perla, nice to meet such an optimist from the teaching profession. I can learn from you as well...!
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
I am a retired Planner/Landscaoe Architect more used to working on design development, but never envisioned myself as a teacher. I taught conversational English to young Japanese housewives, here in the US because their husbands were assigned here. I taught for four years, in a church outreach program. It was rewarding and helped me realize I could make a...
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Vincent Takeuchi replied to Vincent Takeuchi
The classic Japanese samurai movie titled “7 Samurai” inspired the American movie “The Magnificent Seven”, with Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, James Colburn and others. The story is about 7 masterless samurai who band together to protect a helpless village of farmers...
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The Japanese saga celebrating familial and deferential fealty and loyalty is told in 47 Ronin, or “masterless Samurai”. When their ‘clan’ leader or ‘daimyo’ was deposed, the 47 loyal ‘Ken’ fought to the death, to uphold his name and legacy.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
The “strong bonds of mutual obligation’” also existed in feudal j Japan, as a social ‘glue’ that tied the various families, villages, castle-families, fiefdoms together. Japanese ‘clans’ were organized to dominant family names, but other groups not related could gain entry by deeds or commitment. The Scottish “Clan” operates similarly to the Japanese “Ken”
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Clan is so similar to the feudal groups in Japan and Korea, 1600-1859
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
One question... in Japan and Korea, evolution of the sword and fencing technique was paramount with the warrior/samurai class. What led to the development of the Scottish claymore and basket-hilted broadsword, compared to the English and Roman swords..?
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
I see many similarities of Highland culture and governance to the Japanese and Korean feudal societies. Fiefdoms and alliances were fiercely established and maintained, within a complex and evolving system of leaders, warrior clans, classed society and common people, with intrigue and epochs, epic stories and tragic outcomes. I look forward to the Scottish...
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
I have a Korean and Japanese cultural heritage, and note there are many similarities to the development of The feudal societies of both countries. I look forward to this course!
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
I have worked in China as a consultant, with translators. I would like to have an understanding of elementary Chinese.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
In today’s schools, I think our ADHD children face misunderstanding and ridicule, from teachers who do not understand the challenge, and the child’s peer group. More understanding and tolerance of our ADHD kids is needed.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
At least parents of today’s ADHD children can get diagnoses and professional help. Discernment and handling of both the children and their parents pose another challenge, but at least the time of no diagnoses for ADHD is long past.
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Vincent Takeuchi replied to Sarah McDonald
I’m 77 and have a 31 year old ADHD son with depression and anger management problems. He refuses counseling or medication, which has helped in the past. But what we have in common is that I identify ADHD in my own personality, which was not identified when I was young. I was able to complete university and have a career, but think I simply compensated for...
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
For my wife, a key issue was deciding when he needed intervention at Junior High to evaluate him, difficult because she was a social worker with an Masters in Social Work. For me, the difficulty was understanding his affliction, which I did not at the time, so it was difficult to feel empathy or understanding of what he was going through.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
I have a 31 year old adult son, who was diagnosed ADHD in middle school. Now he he is a reclusive, ADHD with anger issues, and he refuses counseling or medication. My wife had a brother with severe depression and ADHD symptoms, and he committed suicide in his mid thirties. There is no mental illness in my family that I know of, so I suspect a genetic link...
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
Yes, definitely. I have ADHD and so does my sdult son. I learned that I have managed or compensated for some aspects of ADHD, but my son’s co-morbidity aspects have led to severe outcomes~ like depression, anxiety, defiance disorder leading to anger management problems. His attachment disorders have led him to jettison his friends, and he self isolates in...
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
I am a retired urban planner with a degree in Landscape Architecture, yet I know now that I have ADHD characteristics. Those characteristics were not identified when I was young, and it is a wonder that I finished university and even had a career. My adult son, now 31, was diagnosed ADHD at age 13, so I know it is intergenenerational and pervasive.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
I have an adult son (31) who was diagnosed ADHD as a young teen, and this course will give me insight to understanding ADHD and treatment possibilities.
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Excellent point, and a compliment to Tongan culture. I wonder if the result would be the same if the boys were from American or European backgrounds...
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
Much more than mob psychology, we have seen this phenomenon at concerts, parties, and with street musicians~which is to say that music and beat are as much communicators as language. I would have joined in after the first few gathered...
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We live in a tumultuous time now, with Covid. It is not unprecedented because we have had similar pandemics in the past, like Black Plague, SARS, and Spanish Flu. What may be different is that whole economies are being disrupted and weakened in ways that may change how we live. The US did not survive the Depression until WWII. My hope is that the US will...
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
In 1971, I sold everything and travelled and lived in Europe for a year, without a plan. At the end of that year, I met a beautiful Danish girl, fell in love, and got married. After 2.5 years, we split up, returned to Europe, and I ended up living in Spain. I had embarked on this adventure with high uncertainty and some limited risk, in that I had no idea of...
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Regarding emergence, an American drama for TV by the same name, dealt with an AI-derived robotic child programmed to learn and grow from her environment. The result was an emergent personality larger than her creators ever imagined or programmed.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
Again, the example of “Lord of the Flies” shows that evolutionary dynamics is unpredictable, but in its selective process way, led to a hierarchy of roles that gave a stability and social order that did not exist when the children were first shipwrecked. Some children died, but the group survived and thrived until rescued.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
In “Lord of the Flies”, the shipwrecked children were separated by their individual core personalities that emerged in a survival mode~ and the hierarchy of that Nieu Order Connected and linked them socially. There was no central core of authority, only the emerging dynamics of the individual personalities.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
Hi, I am Vince, a third-gen Korean American, born in San Francisco and now living in Costa Mesa, California. I am a retired Planner/Landscape Architect with projects in California, Dubai, Delhi, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and China. In an increasingly complex world, I want to understand the decision making process in master planning and place-making. I also...
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Thank you
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
Utopian community developments were pioneered in the US in the 1920’s, with “new town” plans in New Jersey, called ‘Levitt Towns’. Frank Lloyd Wright designed Palos Verdes Estates in 1922, as an integrated community in a park like setting, bringing residential, commercial, education and recreation together in a harmoniously planned whole. California designed...
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
Oh, this is standard ad copy used to present or sell a destination development. Great urban renderings, tranquil photos showing a relaxed and genteel lifestyle, happy people with hardly a care, and a soothing marketing rhetoric to extol the advantages and pleasures of visiting or living here. I love it! And we should not be so critical of China, since we...
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I have family in Oahu, Hawaii, having emigrated from Korea in 1903 and 1917. They have seen development of the sleepy tropical paradise to a well developed destination resort, and even participated in real estate development there. So, if we are critical of China’s development direction, we should look no further than home for similar examples. And, there is...
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Feature Towns are not so different from our own utopian new communities and developments. The described Chinese products are in a more rural setting, but really not that removed from residential/commercial enclaves developed by The Irvine Company in Orange County. Balanced communities offering a range of affordable to luxury housing, linked by open spaces and...
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I thought the video analysis was right on~ I learned about the manipulation of ‘authentic’ and ‘primitive culture’ as marketable commodities, and the target market of the emerged middle and upper middle class. Not so different from our domestic US Travel marketing, showing primitive and ‘authentic’ Polynesian Villages on Oahu, and surfing, outrigger canoes,...
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
I don’t see any difference in this portrayal of Bhuddism as part of a Chinese cultural attraction, than a travel video to Rome, extolling a visit to the Vatican or Coliseum, as relevant destinations.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
Island setting, historical and religious setting, family, exotic sights and romance~tailored to the middle and upper middle classes individual travel.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
Very western in showcasing a tourist destination, I liked it! It sold me on a place I would like to visit in China. The use of orchestral then more contemporary almost Brazilian Bossa Nova sounds completes the sales image.
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The concept of individual travel and tourism was explored at length by the young and young at heart, from the 1960’s and 70’s ‘Flower Generation’. After university and Vietnam, I hit the road with a backpack and no fixed itinerary, in 1970-1, and stayed a year. I met many American students “doing Europe” for the summer, and also more hard core travelers on...
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
The Red Detachment of Women not only underscores the combat requirements of revolution, but sets a stage for gender equality. Interesting that during WWII, the Russian Army included all-women sniper companies, the most decorated of which could account for over 300 kills each. The Israeli Army also found its women brigades especially adept to sniper...
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Saving face is a dominant Asian cultural characteristic, and that probably played a role in China’s delay to address the Coronavirus crisis. But their response and commitment to contain and control Covid -19 is to be applauded and copied by us in the West. I hope American and European populations have the fortitude and discipline to follow suit, and set...
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Vincent Takeuchi replied to Lou T
I used to avoid fights as a kid because some aggressors thought I knew judo or karate...!
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
At least stereotyping is a first step in understanding our world. The next steps will require further inquiry and information, toward a less biased image or impression. Unfortunately in today’s busy life, stereotyping is convenient and requires less effort than inquiry and discernment.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
Here in Orange County, California USA, amenities offered at Wakabadai are found in planned retirement villages and developments. Unfortunately, this comes at considerable cost, as you must buy into the housing and associated amenities. Social-Democracies like Denmark, Sweden and Finland provide full-spectrum developments to all ages more readily and at...
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I would suggest most of the individuals taking this course live in industrialized cultures with technology. We have aging concerns and the means to deal with it, whereas many in developing countries are more concerned about their next meal and safety.
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Social connectivity needs to be redefined today, since most of us do not enjoy the nuclear family experience ~ we get it via commmunity and club involvement, volunteer groups and church small groups. In Japan, tight knit family dynamics remain, as well as lifestyle defined in smaller neighborhoods and villages. Our environments tend to be of the urban and...
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I think Dr. Arai’s research clearly spells out the steps needed to prolong a healthy life cycle, including social connectivity. With consideration for economic level and cultural differences, we can all strive for a longer HALE, by taking those steps.
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Appreciate all your comments, as I cane late to the course. Also notice the spread between ALE and HALE, varies according to country socioeconomic factors and culture, which shows we are all different, but can at least some of us can choose the lifestyle example that benefits us best.
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‘Longevity of perception’ you mentioned sounds more like positive or negative reinforcement of behavior~ like parents, siblings, friends, teachers- telling us we are smart, dumb, quick to learn, slow, humerous,dull~ any of the characteristics that make us who we are.
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You mean, like a depressive or manic-depressive gene that is inter generational?
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That is certainly true with all of us..! My birth father left us at age 5, so without a positive and consistent father image, I was left to invent my own concepts of what a male should be. My current wife (third marriage) is an MSW and says I am still screwed up...
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You mean like, everyone has their own destiny, which is a more Zen-like approach to explaining our path in life...
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I agree, because perceived problems can appear as real problems to a mentally challenged person.
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That’s a good observation as I also have a tendency to be over-sensitive to some communications, email or spoken, and interpret them personally.
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Really helpful to hear other people’s experiences in anxiety and depression. I can relate to all the comments in varying degrees of recognition.
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Taking deep breaths, a drink of water, would help anxiety. My mother was a professional singer, Julliard-trained, and she said she always experienced stage fright before performing. She said she would try to imagine the audience sitting on a toilet, something we all have to do, and that humanizing and humorous image helped her pass the anxiety to perform.
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I would always experience anxiety before making a presentation of a plan or design to a client, even if I worked hard to develop a wonderful design. Shortness of breath, loss of words, a feeling of panic, forgetting the script, were part of the anxiety
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I was married to a bipolar individual, so I know confusing and difficult that can be.
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Thank you Suzi. Greater understanding of depression and mental illness can only help...!
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Thank you..!
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
We have a 30!year old son with anxiety, and would like to understand what it’s like for him.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
Leisure travel in the USA was once an activity only the wealthy could indulge, up to the 1920’s and 30’s. The exception was the road trip phenomenon that took place with the availability of affordable cars, when the working class could ‘hit the road’ with family in tow. Post WWII changed all that, with an expanding middle class that could afford new homes,...
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
Internet has provided a vastly enlarged platform to express opinions, air grievances, and make social contacts. However in China, the platforms are fewer than outside China, and subject to scrutinizing and blocking by the government. But in general access to social media has given voice to many.
However, apart from a few pioneering and bold individuals,...
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
A touching and romanticized sonnet of a factory worker in her daily toil, but without resentment of the her social class or eventual destination of the luxury good she has helped produce.
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Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
I think the Doweger Empress may have been the first to embrace modern photography as an effective PR tool. We have the ad men on Madison Avenue, but she was early on.
In similar fashion, today’s contemporary young women have capitalized on the effectiveness of enhanced photography in promoting themselves in friendships and the search for a partner/relationship. -
Vincent Takeuchi made a comment
As a Vietnam veteran, I served in submarines in the US Navy. As such, preparedness in wartime conditions helped me to be prepared for emergencies and perform in teams as well as individuals. We live in a wonderful but uncertain world, and I believe being aware of risk and understanding situation assessment is important to survival. We never know when we...
